page_title: Horatio Frederick Phillips
section_title: Multiplane flying machines
hierarchical_section_title: Horatio Frederick Phillips / Multiplane flying machines
caption_attribution_description: English: Full-sized multiplane machine, large enough to carry a passenger, built in 1904. Similar to his 1893 experiment. Total weight with a man on it was about 600 lbs. The machine lifted into the air when it reached a speed of 50 ft./sec. Mr. Phillips found it to be unstable longitudinally (front to back).
context_page_description: Horatio Frederick Phillips was an English aviation pioneer. He was famous for building multiplane flying machines with many more sets of lifting surfaces than are normal on modern aircraft. However he made a more lasting contribution to aeronautics in his work on aerofoil design.
context_section_description: Phillips believed that multiple stacked wing planes (or "sustainers" as he called them), in "Venetian blind" configuration, offered advantages.
  His 1893 Flying Machine had 50 lifting surfaces and used his patented "double-surface airfoils" in such a way as to produce an aspect ratio of 1:152, providing great lift at the sacrifice of stability. As a test vehicle, it was not designed to be manned, but was used to test lifting capability. Its maximum load was found to be 400 lb.
  His 1904 Multiplane was a development of the 1893 test vehicle in a configuration that could be flown by a person. It had 21 wings and had a tail for stability, but was unable to achieve sustained flight. Its best performance was 50 ft. A specially made replica of the 1904 machine appears in the opening sequences of the 1965 film Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines.
  His 1907 Multiplane, which had 200 individual airfoils and was powered by a 22 hp engine driving a 7 ft propeller achieved a 500 ft flight on 6 April 1907. This was the first flight of its kind in England, although it was preceded by the Wright brothers by several years.
  Though successful, the 1907 model showed poor performance compared to more conventional contemporary types. This caused Phillips to end his attempts at manned flight.
caption: 1904 Flying Machine
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